Back again

Greetings from the boondocks of Japan....

Well, it is the back of beyond, but I'm starting to get used to it.

And of course, being a vegetarian, I'm missing Singapore something crazy. I miss Marche, Original Sin, Indinine, I even miss Komalas and (horrors) I miss Annalakshmi too.....

I desperately miss having access to large varieties (and quantities) of fresh vegetables. I miss the friendly neighbourhood grocery stores where I could get my hands on most spices I needed.

The vegetable sections of supermarkets here are, frankly, a joke! The quantities are incomprehensible to a desi vegetarian. I mean, who on earth buys french beans and Okra in bundles of 8 or 12?? Yesterday I felt like making a nice okra curry, but there were a total of 12 okra in the supermarket shelves... 12?? I can't wait to tell the assorted grandmothers back in India about this and watch them shake their heads in utter shock! Arun's gran was appalled that I get only 3 of the 11 aviyal vegetables here and no coconut or green chilis...

Ah well, so here's to an all new way of cooking!